Andrew Bird Gave an Impeccable Performance at Showbox [Photos]

Photos by Eric Tra

Andrew Bird played a sold-out show at Seattle’s Showbox Thursday night alongside opener John Grant. Grant started the night off with a quick yet entertaining performance that offered fans songs of heartbreak and humor. While most audiences might have groaned over an opener playing primarily sad songs, Grant’s ability to poke fun at his inner demons actually made his performance enjoyfully palatable and gained him some heavy applause from the crowd.

As Andrew Bird took the stage, he spared no time jumping into a violin-led crescendo that rolled into the first number of his set. Bird played 15 songs followed by a 4 song encore that featured a selection of folk-based tunes such as “Orpheo” and a cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest”. Most of the set pulled songs from Bird’s most recent album Are you Serious which debuted in April. His set also came complete with popular songs such as “Plasticities” and “Tenuousness” off previous releases Armchair Apocrypha and Noble Beast respectively.

As to be expected with any Andrew Bird show, Thursday night’s performance was not without a symphony of vibrato-laden whistles and an impeccable use of violin and guitar melodies. Bird can definitely hold his own as a solo act, but backed with a full band, this performance definitely stood out. This will be the first of two Seattle shows this year for Bird — the second will be at Bumbershoot in September.